



MSMSlSISJSISJilSISMSMSSISL 



Colleges of the Hew {Uest 

(Ditto m. BlacK&urn, D. D., EE, D. 
Introduction by Berries 3oftn$en, D* D*, ££♦ D, 







MAP i 



COLLEGES 

AND UNIVERSITIES 

IN THB UNITED STATES- 



Colleges and Universities of the 
PresbjteriaitCauirchOrortti) x 



Gl Gk Sifft 5\ fa 



tlK Presbyterian Board of Hid for Colleges and Academies 
30 ihontauk Block Chicago i$9* 



Sciu^HiMQMfi!^ 



Copyrighted 1896 

BY THE 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF AID FOR COLLEGES AND ACADEMIES 



Geo. E. Marshall & Co. 

STATIONERS 
CHICAGO ILLINOIS 



nT 



^4 



Colleges of the 
New West 



WM. M. BLACKBURN D. D. LL. D. 

PRESIDENT OF PIERRE UNIVERSITY 



^OCT 9 ^89 



y 



kCs 



CONTENTS 



so 



Page 

Introduction ---------- 3 

Colleges and Universities in the United States - 5 

The West of Our Day -------- n 

First Group -------- 12 

Second Group 14 

Both Groups - 19 

Western Colleges— Why ? 26 

TABLES 

I. Colleges and Universities in the United States 8 

II. Denominational Colleges in the West . 18 

III. Illiteracy in the United States ----- 20 

IV. Establishment of Denominational Colleges in the West 22 

MAPS 

I. Colleges and Universities in the United States '- 7 

II. The West of Our Day ------- n 

III. Group I. . 12 

IV. Group II. - ... 14 

PLATES 

I. 481 Colleges and Universities *n tkV Ujiifetf ^t&es I- * s $ I 

II. 100 Pupils of all Grades •-•%-••• •*-!•-• * - I - fcJ *' 

III. 75 Colleges in Group I. ------ 13 

IV. 100 Colleges in Group II # "...... \ / . ;. ,^ # 17 #c 

V. 98 Western Colleges of£(>urJ^en$mj£aiioYL§ •?' * • 25 # 

The Growth of a Typical .We.9ter,3 £ijy*\ " !• I *••" -. " 15 



Introduction 



Herrick Johnson, D. D., LL. D. 



THIS is the compactest and most suggestive bit of 
talk on far West colleges yet published. No 
man will begin its reading without going through 
it. And he who reads it through will be invincibly 
persuaded that "The Newer West is a youth at work 
on hard problems." It is brim full of facts and fig- 
ures, hopeful, startling, convincing. Figures tell. 
They sometimes tell lies. It is not claimed for these 
that they are exhaustive and complete. But the es- 
sential figures are reliable, and the painstaking tabu- 
lations are approximately correct. They will be found 
full of suggestion and provocative of thought. This 
budget on education is as eloquent in its way, as that 
of Gladstone's on national finance before Parliament, 
when, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he kept 
listening Commoners whole hours absorbed with his 
marvelous statistics. 

The chief sources of information have been the 
National Bureau of Education, the Reports of its Com- 
missioner, Dr. W. T. Harris, the unofficial "Almanacs," 
denominational records, and a wide personal corres- 
pondence. 



The condensed record tells a marvelous story. 
Some sure surprises will greet the reader: one, the 
overwhelming preponderance of higher Christian 
over secular education ; another, the infinitesimal 
fragment of pupils pursuing collegiate or university- 
education, (which does not look as if we were over- 
stocked with colleges) ; another, the splendid tribute 
to the little red school house — see the ranking states 
in the startling table of illiteracy, showing the good 
work of the elementary schools in these far Western 
States ; still another, the tribute to Christian educa- 
tional enterprise in the brilliant record of the denomi- 
nations, and especially of the Presbyterian, during the 
decade of 1881-90, in establishing colleges in the 
Newer West. 

Some unchallengeable convictions are sure to get 
lodged in the thoughtful reader, as he goes through 
these pages. Among them are these : that the state 
institutions are not doing, and cannot do, more than 
the merest fraction of our desired collegiate work ; 
that the Christian college is a mighty arm of missions; 
that the college can no more wait for local self-sup- 
port, than the missionary can wait for it ; and that the 
Newer West cannot at her own expense build and 
equip the college in time for her instant and urgent 
need. She must have eastern help. 



OUR Eastern States were once the West. The 
founders of Yale, Harvard and Princeton looked 
across the Atlantic for college aid. It came and 
nurtured a habit. • 

The empire of American colleges, on its westward 
way, was nearly two hundred years (1638 — 1829) in 
reaching St. Louis, and planting there the first college . 
west of the Mississippi river. In only fourteen more 
years it reached the Pacific Coast in Oregon, and 
eighteen years later in California. In these rapid 
movements the forces of education evinced their pur- 
pose to capture the great West even before its settle- 
ment. 

Who knows how many colleges and universities Number of 
there are in the United States? The census takes no Colleges. 
account of them. Probably the knowledge is most 
fully in the National Bureau of Education, Washing- 
ton, D. C, whose Commissioner, W. T. Harris, LL.D., 
writes that reports for the year 1894-5 have been re- 
ceived from 481 universities and colleges, but they are 
not yet published. Of these institutions 40 are under 
state and municipal control and they educate about 
one-fifth of all the students in the 481 institutions. 
Others are reported as non-sectarian, although many 
of them are well known to be established and man- 
aged by Christian denominations. At least 405 are 
avowedly Christian, and they are more than ten times 
those of the state and city. 



PLATE I. 
481 Colleges and Universities in the United States. 




Further facts from the National Bureau must now 
be derived from older reports. It has testified that 
"These denominational institutions have been the 
Pioneers, pioneers of higher education in several states, and 
have, at least in the Western States, prepared the way 
for the establishment of good state institutions * * * 
by creating and fostering a desire for knowledge, and 
making the people of the several communities realize 
the value of a liberal education. * * * It must not be in- 
ferred that the instruction in denominational institu- 
tions has a sectarian basis. A large number of them 
state particularly that their teaching is entirely unsec- 
tarian, and that students will not be disturbed in their 



























A 




K4 


* r *-* 8 


















X^JULT. 






^ iV F 


7 


JT 


F 


\ '^TJ£ 






^4 ^* 
^^ • • . 


















en 

Z 

o 

CO 
CO 
LU 
CO 








*5- 

• 
*< 

• < 






• 
• 


o 


'q,V.* • 


i ^f 

V * / 
• -«\ • 


• 

• 
• • 


1* > 


k*3 • 


If) 


• 






I / m 


• i • 


"m • X fJ ^^L 


s 


• • 








fe, 






V7 • £ 


. •! „• 


• ** x /^-^» • 






l • 








CO 

o 

0- 




— >v • y 
1 •'•" 


• 
»x 

• 


• x <x. 

• • 2 


*•• • 


<• 

• 


• 


* .• 
• < 

* 
• 








J*y* 










s 




x • " *> 




HX 




• 










I 


• 


• 




•;? 


/ * X 


• 

x 


• .-* 






• 




•Y 


CO 




< 

Q 


< 

01 


• • 
X 

• 


• 
• 

W 


• 


• • 


o / 




•a 

w 

H 

• 


• 


• 


• 












• • 1 














cc \ 






• 


• 

►4 K 














00 / 


h 




O i 


o w 
















o 


• I 


£ j 


/ a 








09 


CO 


V X 

5 
















a 


w 






' . J o 




a / ■ 
g •. / 


• 






H 

— 




o rg 
|| 

CD r« 










/ « 








P 




> 5 


/ *■ 


• 


7~~^~v^ * 


~~7 > 








— 

at — 


s 


"2 ^j 


/ w 




• 


/ w 


# •^ 






H 




D 


/ i 

J • 


• / 


• o • 


/ * 






< 


55 O 




a "3 

CO « 

— CO 






• i 
^. / 


• 






2 


© 




ft 

l-H 


i—i <u 
O !h 
OP- 


f-l 


<? 




• 


^T^" 



















0) 

u 






hi 






3 






o 






(0 






J- 






0) 






J3 






■M 




# 


O 




CO 


•o 




V 


c 




.M 


(4 




rt 






•4-> 

c/) 


i 




*o 


©V 




0) 


00 




•4-) 


■»■ 










C 


c 




P 


.2 
'•♦3 




0) 


OS 




43 


u 




4-> 


u 


HH 




T) 


w 


.s 


W 


J 


en 


o 


CQ 




0) 


< 


• 74 

10 


c 
o 


h 


Ih 
0) 


"5 




> 






• v4 

G 


i 




D 


b 

o 




•a 


O 




c 


4> 




rt 


.C 




(0 


<«-• 




<u 


O 




b/0 


+■• 




0) 


u 






O 




o 


a 

4) 




U 


•4-* 

c 
o 
•a 

0) 



ffl 





sxNaanxs 




38 
1,112 
4,290 
1,047 
2,379 

90 

2,064 

572 

2.038 


Oi CM 


c 


6,222 
4,597 
3.707 


3,120 

668 

2,184 

5,789 


'SH3H3V3X 


©< »- 03 ©} *h oom i^wnn w^: 


"IVXOX 




H 

CD 


C 

o 

C 

£ 

o 

c 
o 
Q 


•SJ9q;o 
11V 


' 'iOh« i i i i © W i. ' I'l 


•(q;jo N ) 
u^qsgaj 


. 1 j ,h _i ; . i i . *-* | i ,-i rr CO ; ; ; ; < 


UBUBP9S 
-UGNtf 


| ".► .'M-. '. •': ' ;-.'• • ;■ i t"'i«0H 


•9;b;s 


1 T-H 1 T-l 1— 1 > 1 ' 1 If— 1 ' 1 IHH I I ' I ' 

i i i i i i i iii i i i i i 


H 
en 

< 


^5 

c 
o 

"5 

c 

E 

o 
c 
o 
o 


"SJ9q;o 
IIV 


CO i ' ' 'CO 'WM^ 'COO ' ' «Q0^C0t-O5 
i i i i i i CQ rH i I -l 


•(q;jo N ) 
u,qs9i c i 


; '. ' i ~< • ci» co ' • "| r* ' ' r« ' 




CO ' ' ' ' 'HNhCO '03r-i i i iTfCO ' <N CO 


•9;b;§ 


-::::::::-:--:;:-«;:: 






CO 

W 
H 
< 
H 

CO 


n 
E 

R 

« 

< 


Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colnradn _ 


Connecticut 

Delaware 

District of Columbia 

Florida 

Georgia 


i 
i 

D O 'q 

2^ 


CI 

c 


Indian Territory 

Iowa ..__ _. 

Kansas 


Louisiana 

Maine _. 

Maryland 

Massachusetts . 



OOHOU5r)iQ©OON(»COOiOa^O^©CO?Or1tt-OOOJO«OMOSQO 



Tt< CO CD Ol "i OO? 05 ~- 00 



1-1 T-i CO 






^- 1— I 05 *—» ©5 i-H CO 1— • ©5 N H ,— ( 



§ 



©5 'M H « 



1 1 1 



1 X -h ifl 'CD 



S I 



^ CO • ©5 



CO 


• T— f 1 • • 

1 III 


> 1 ' 1 T*< ©4 


1 O 1 


1 co 


1 


1 TJH ■ 
• . 1 


1 . CO 


1 OJ 1 , 


CD 


- 


1 III 


1 1 . IN H 

1 1 11 


1 05 ; 


:- 


' • 


;- : 


1 y— t 1— t 


: : : : 


00 



as 
bo g 



ft ' 
ft — 
'3 £ 
.2 o 

en en 

en en 



§sss 



C 


rt 

M 


rt 


rf 






ti 


n 


O 





££ 



T3 ffi 
<U CO 



2 S 

55-55 



— " kj G w 
y< ri< .5 ^ 



'5 



rt rt 



fl rt 



^ .3 

> en ._ 






bo .a 



££££ 



respective religious beliefs." (Report of 1889-90, II., 
p. 787.) 
Per- It is often thought that most students in colleges are 

centages. strictly collegiates, but the preparatories, or academics, 
are frequently in the large majority, especially in the 
West. Most classes in certain ''Universities" are 
strictly academic. During the year 1892-3, in the 
United States, about 15,400,000 pupils attended some 
kind of a school. More than 316,000 of these were in 
the special, or business schools, but the great majority 
were found to rank thus: 

plate it. 

100 Pupils of all Grades. 




Elementary, in Primary and Grammar Schools. 
Secondary, in High Schools and Academies., 
Superior, in Colleges and Universities. 

10 



Only one pupil in 37 was in a high school or acade- 
my, and only one in 94 was in a college or uni- 
versity. The proportions are less favorable in the 
great West. 

The West of Our Day. 

MAP II. 




The West is large. The four present territories — 
not including Alaska — will soon be admitted into the 
Union. We shall then have twenty-three western 
states, all except Wisconsin and a part of Minnesota 
lying west of the Mississippi river. 

11 



MAP III. Group I. 




First The five that touch the Mississippi river, north of 

Group. Louisiana, have now nearly 9,000,000 people, and room 

for more. Each invites new settlers. Not one of them 

regards its institutions of higher learning as adequately 

supported. Reports show that of these there are 

Presbyterian (North) 9 

(Other branches)__7 16 

Baptist _ 7 

Congregational 6 

Lutheran 4 

Methodist 16 

Roman Catholic 6 

Five other bodies 10 65 

Non-sectarian 6 

State 4 

Total 75 

12 



PLATE III. 



75 Colleges in Group I. 




In the four of these states north of Arkansas, the 
Presbyterian Church (North), with 1,027 churches, 
almost 88,900 members, and a Sunday School enroll- 
ment of nearly 111,500 pupils, must still receive mis- 
sionary aid, and its nine colleges meditate on a long 
inventory of needs. 



13 



MAP IV. Group II. 




Second In the second group are eighteen states (potential- 
Group. iy) ? w ith another 9,000,000 people, dispersed over more 
than half the land in the entire Union. Plainly, then, 
the Newer West is a youth at work on hard problems. 
There every organization for the best life must have 
its "day of small things." Most of the pioneers have 
been enterprising. Where tents were lately pitched, 
a town has been planted. The log hotel is a historic 
mark of an incorporated hope — a city. Donated cor- 
ner lots grow a surplus of churches. The court-house, 
facing a business street, keeps an eye upon law and 



14 







15 



Mission 
Field. 



good order. The little school house does well its work, 
and the next thought is a high school whose diploma 
may be deemed the topmost rung in the ladder of 
practical learning. 

Chief In this vast domain are resources of wealth unde- 
veloped, and settlers by thousands will find their way 
to them. It is still the chief missionary field within 
the United States. People, struggling to make homes, 
to clear farms from debt, and to maintain their 
churches, have taken up the work of Christian educa- 
tion as a moral and social necessity. Arizona, Nevada, 
Oklahoma, Wyoming and New Mexico have no 
Christian college reported. In the seventeen other 
states are reported : 

Presbyterian (North) 14 

(Other branches) 3 17 

Baptist 8 

Congregational 11 

Lutheran 4 

Methodist 17 

Roman Catholic 8 

Five other bodies 12 77 

Non-sectarian 6 

State 17 

Total 100 



16 



PLATE IV. 
100 Colleges in Group II. 



/ A* \ tf 

/ \ £• 

/ .** \ i 

/ # s \ 

/ * ^ \ 

J (Other Br^n^Trr--^^ 


*** N. 

"^ / \ 

<9 / \ 
ff / \ 

/ / * / \ 

6 /x \ 

^ Methodist 17. 

V^N\ / 

° \ <f ^\ / 

o \ O ^\ / 

* \ X 7 

o \ ■? / 

\ / 


- // 

X /* 

\ / M 



Of these the Presbyterian Church (North), with 
nearly 1,600 churches, over 102,000 members, and an 
enrollment of 161,300 Sunday school scholars, has 14 
colleges in eleven states of this group ; none yet at 
work in seven of them. In these latter seven we 
have 418 Presbyterian churches, with 15,154 members 
and 20,137 Sunday school scholars. The only Presby- 
terian colleges in them are two of the Southern branch 
in Texas. 

17 



TABLE II. 
Denominational Colleges in the West (Approximate). 



STATES. 


to o> 

a &o 

© 55 
W — 

«+- u 

e on 


■© 

ts 

s 

a 

© 

OS 


d 

JS 

1 

QO 
•a 
■*£ 

"3 

5 


to 
a 
•Si 
'u 

u. 


Jo 


a 

2 

13 
-J 


.2 

!§* 

a) 

a 


."55 
a. 

03 
0Q 


.22 

'5. 

is 

5; 


<3~ 


a 

.2 
*u 

a 


d 
. 

is 
°* 

"© a 
t«"" 

Is 


FIRST GROUP 

Arkansas 

Iowa 

Minnesota 

Missouri 

Wisconsin 

SECOND GROUP 

Arizona 

California 

Colorado 

Idaho 

Indian Territory _ 

Kansas 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Mexico 

N. Dakota 

Oklahoma 

Oregon 

S. Dakota 

Texas 

Utah_ 

Washington 

Wyoming 


476,000 
701,000 
458,000 
1,400,000 
567,700 

18,300 

360,000 

113,000 

27,000 

179,321 

540,000 

30,000 

384,000 

12,400 

52,600 

59,400 

21,600 

193,400 

86,000 

924,000 

80,000 

97,000 

16,300 


I 

1 

2 
2 

3 
~2 

~i 

1 
1 


1 
1 

"I 

"2 
"l 

1 


1 

1 


1 
1 

"i 

1 


"1 

2 
1 

"2 

1 
1 


2 
1 
1 

1 

~2 

"I 


1 

1 
1 

3 

1 

2 
"2 

1 
1 

2 


3 

6 

2 
4 
1 

_ 3 
1 

3 
1 

"i 

"2 
2 
3 

1 


"2 
1 
1 
2 

"l 

1 

"l 

~2 

1 

"I 

2 

"I 

1 


1 
4 

2 

7 

2 

"l 

1 
1 
1 
3 
1 
2 

"2 

1 

2 
1 
1 


5 
20 
11 
19 
10 

12 
3 
1 
1 

16 
1 
9 

"2 

16 

7 
10 

2 
3 


Totals 


6,797,000 14 


7 


2 


5 


8 


8 


15 


33 


17 


33 


142 



18 



Although there are 25 more institutions of higher 
education in the second group than in the first, a glance 
at the map on page 7 will show that the 100 colleges 
and universities of Group II are scattered over a far 
wider territory, so that they must be quite distant from 
a much larger number of young people, comparatively 
few of whom will find their way to a college in an 
eastern state. And while the number of our own 
churches and their membership are greater in the 
second group, they have less wealth, more privations, 
more pioneer work to do, and their wide dispersion 
increases the difficulties of combined effort in the 
higher education. Even with five more colleges, and 
one now in suspension, the Presbyterians m the sec- 
ond group can now make little advance in colleges 
without eastern help. 

One favorable fact is that most of the western states 
are among the freest from illiteracy — inability to read 
and write. The total population of the United States, 
in 1890 was 62,622,250. Of these 7,638,360 were negroes 
not yet released from the effects of slavery, and cast- 
ing a deep shadow over the southern and three of our 
western states, (Indian Territory is omitted). Taking 
the white people, 54,983,890 of them, ten or more years 
of age, we find Nebraska first (3.1) in rank. Next are 
eight western states. We pass through 30 states, lead- 
ing to 9.8 as the per centage. The shadows lengthen 
through 18 states where 45.8 is the mark for Louisiana. 
But in nearly all the states there has been a marked 
decrease of illiteracy during the last ten and twenty 
years, a work in which Washington and Utah took the 
lead. This shows the good work of the elementary 



Illiteracy. 

(Table on 

the next 

Page.) 



19 



TABLE III 



The Rank of each State according to the Rates of Illiteracy 

in 1890. 



Neb., - 


- 3.1 


Wyo.,- 


- 3.4 


Iowa, - 


- 3.6 


Kans., 


- 4.0 


Oregon 


4.1 


S. Dak. 


4.2 


Wash., 


- 4.3 


Idaho, 


- 5.1 


Colo.,- 


- 5.2 


111., - - 


- 5.2 


Ohio, - 


- 5.2 


Conn., 


- 5.3 


Okla.,- 


- 5.4 


Me.,- - 


- 5.5 


Mont., 


- 5.5 


N. Y.,- 


- 5.5 


Utah, - 


- 5.6 


Mich.,- 


- 5.9 


Minn., 


- 6.0 


N. Dak 


, 6.0 


Mass.,- 


- 6.2 


Ind., - 


- 6.3 


N.J., - 


- 6.5 


Vt., - - 


- 6.7 


Wis., - 


- 6.7 


N. H.,- 


- 6.8 


Pa., - - 


- 6.8 


Cal.,- - 


- 7.7 


Mo.,- - 


- 9.1 


R. I., - 


- 9.8 


Nev., - 


-12.8 


D. C.,- 


-13.2 


Del.,- - 


- 14.3 


W. Va., 


- 14.4 


Md.,- - 


- 15.7 


Texas, 


-19.7 


Ky.,-- 


-21.6 


Ariz., - 


- 23.4 


Ark., - 


-26.6 


Tenn., 


-26.6 


Fla.,- - 


-27.8 


Va., - - 


- 30.2 


N. C„- 


- 35.7 


Ga., - - 


-38.9 


Miss.,- 


-40.0 


Ala.,- - 


-41.0 


N. Mex 


,44.5 


S. C. - 


- 45.0 


La., - - 


-45.8 




20 



schools; and as they increase in power the higher in- 
stitutions will increase in numbers of students. The 
smaller colleges of the West must have glad futures of 
growth. 

Table IV. on the next two pages is worth a careful The Two 
study. It illustrates the progress of founding Chris- Groups. 
tian colleges in the wide West and sums up the results 
historically by decades. It shows the lines of advance 
in territories that became states, and the denomina- 
tions that led it. Church misions gave us Christian 
colleges. In the second decade, as tabulated, the 
Protestants began their educational work west of the 
Mississippi river. They followed the drift of im- 
migration. 

From 1843 to 1848 the Methodists and the Congrega- 
tionalists were in the lead ; planting three colleges on 
the eastern, and two on the western edge of the North 
west. In 1845-50 the Baptists and the Presbyterians 
each founded a college in Texas. But the Central 
West was not invaded by the college-builders during 
the second decade. 

Political events, the rush for gold, and the search for 
health and wheat-lands, brought other territories into 
prominence. Iowa was the first state to have seven 
Christian colleges in the third decade, five more in the 
fourth, and now a larger number (20) than any other 
state of the first group. Men who remember the 
strifes for the free soil of Kansas may be surprised to 
find there three Christian colleges in the third decade, 
four more in the fourth, and now the largest number 
(16) of any state in the second group. Even during 
the civil war, 1861-5, there were at least nine colleges 

21 



TABLE IV. 

Establishment of Denominational Colleges in the "West, by Decades. 





I. 

1829- J 40. 


ii. 

1841-'50. 


III. 
1851-'60. 


IV. 
1861-'70. 


Roman Catholic. 


1 Mo. 




1 Minn. 1 Kas. 


1 Kas. 1 Cal. 








Baptist 




1 Tex. 1 Mo. 


1 la. 1 Mo. 
1 Kas. 1 Or. 


1 la. 1 Wis. 








Congregational- 




1 Wis. 1 la. 
lOr. 




1 Wis. 1 Kas. 
1 la. I Minn. 








Disciples _ _- 




1 Mo. 




1 la. 










Friends 




















Lutheran 








1 la. 1 Wis 












Methodist 




I la. 1 Or. 
1 Wis. 


1 Cal. 1 Minn. 

2 la. 1 Mo. 
lKas. 


1 Mo. 1 Col. 






1 la. 


Prot. Episcopal .. 






1 Wis. I la. 












United Brethren 






11a. 


1 Kas. 1 Or. 
1 Mo. 








Presbyterian 
(all branches) 




ITex. 


I Mo. 2 Wis. 


1 Or. ITex. 

1 Kas. 




Totals 


1 

n 


10 


18 


20 




1 1 1 1 


1 II 1 II 




1 II 1 1 1 


IMMI 




1 1 1 1 1 1 


1 1 1 1 1 1 


II 1 1 1 1 




1 1 1 1 1 1 


1 1 1 1 1 1 


1 1 1 1 1 1 



22 



LofC 



TABLE IV .—Continued. 

Establishment of Denominational Colleges in the West, by Decades. 





V. 
1871-'80. 


VI. 

1881- r 90. 


VII. 

189l-'96. 


Date un- 
known. 


TOTALS. 


Roman Catholic 


1 Neb. 


1 Wis. 1 Or. 




6 


14 








Baptist 


lCal. 

1 Mo. 


1 S. D. 1 Cal. 
1 Tex. 1 Ark. 
1 Minn. 






15 










Congregational. . 


1 Neb. 
1 Mo. 
lCol. 


INeb. 2S. D. 
1 Wash 1 Cal. 


IN. D. 
lUtah 




17 


Disciples 


ITex. 


1 la. 2 Neb. 


lCal. 


1 


8 


Friends __ 


11a. 




lOr. 




2 








Lutheran__ 


2 Minn. 


2 Kas. 1 S. D. 





1 


8 


Methodist _. 


1 la. 

2 Tex. 
1 Ark. 
1 Cal. 


1 Tex. 1 Wash. 
2S. D. 2 Kas. 

1 Neb. 1 Or. 

2 Ark. 


IN. D. 
lCal. 


4 


33 


Prot Episcopal .. 








3 


5 












United Brethren 


INeb. 


1 Neb. 


1 Kas. 




7 


Presbyterian 
(all Branches) 


1 Ark. 
1 la. 

1 Mo. 


3 la. 3 Mo. 
2 Kas. 1 Mont. 
1 Col. 2 Neb. 
1 S. D. 2 Minn. 
1 Wash. 1 Cal. 


11a. 
11. T. 
IMo. 
1 Idaho 
lUtah 


1 


33 


Totals 


19 


46 


12 


16 


142 




1 1 1 1 1 






1 M 1 1 1 






MINI 






1 l 1 1 1 1 






1 1 1 1 


MINI 






1 1 1 1 1 


1 1 1 1 1 1 






Mill 


MINI 


1 1 1 1 1 






II 1 1 1 


I | i I I i 


1 1 i 1 1 






1 1 1 1 1 


1 I i M 1 


1 1 1 1 1 





23 



founded in the West, and eleven during the five years 
that completed the fourth decade. 

MarkedAd- But the most remarkable increase was in the decade 
vanceinthe 1881-90, when 46 Christian colleges were planted; the 
e ' Presbyterians (North) leading with 17 in eleven states, 
and next the Methodists with 10 in seven states. Was 
not this Presbyterian increase largely due to the Board 
of Aid for Colleges and Academies, founded in 1883, 
which introduced a more systematic and efficient poli- 
cy ? It did not leave the establishment of a college to 
a merely local ambition, nor to real estate jobbery, nor 
to the rivalry which multiplied Christian institutions 
in a state beyond ability to support the half of them, 
nor to the enterprising spirit that too often ran them 
into deplorable debt on the presumption that eastern 
churches would cheerfully clear it off. 

FourDeno- During the sixty-seven years of college life in the 
minations. West, since 1829, four denominations have there 
become prominent. In the number of colleges the 
Presbyterians and Episcopal Methodists — all 
branches of them — have grown equally; the Con- 
gregationalists and Baptists have come next. Of 142 
Christian institutions the four control 98. 



24 



PLATE V. 
98 Western Colleges of Four Denominations. 




And have not their colleges helped their missions? 
We need not be startled when the New York Evangel- 
ist says : "It may be doubted if even the home mis- 
sionaries are doing a more self-denying work than the 
professors in the institutions. * * * We cannot but 
wonder that men of wealth, interested in Christian 
education, do not see in these struggling, starving in- 
stitutions of the West most profitable places in which 
to invest money for the kingdom of heaven's sake." 

25 



Colleges 

Help 
Missions 



The sway of education is to increase in these twen- 
Knowl- ty-three states. What shall be its quality for more 
edge. t ] ian 6^500,000 young people, many of whom are seek- 
ing power for good in nearly ten thousand Christian 
Endeavor societies? The answer must depend mainly 
on the educational spirit and work of the Christian 
church. Will she make efficient the reported 142 col- 
leges planted in these states by ten denominations? 
Her duty is evident; her opportunity more free than it 
may ever be again. Our own Presbyterian Church 
stands as the adopting mother of 272,800 young peo- 
ple now in her Sabbath classes, and they are only at 
the front of an increasing procession. For them and 
their associates her twenty-three colleges were founded 
in the boldness of necessity and in the faith that sus- 
tenance and patronage would come to them. 

Why plant? "Why plant a college that cannot grow strong by 
home support?" Why organize a needed church 
years before it will be self-sustaining ? Both are to 
do missionary work in extending Christianity. Why 
not let other denominations take all the local church 
work ? Because they will not do it in our way. "Why 
not let the state institutions take all our college work ?" 
Because they do not educate in our way. With all 
their excellences, they omit too many truths and facts 
that we wish to have taught for larger reasons than 
"sectarian loyalty." 

The president of a western college writes: "It is the 
Christian college that is needed, and only a Christian 
denomination will found it." Why needed? To em- 
phasize the fact that Christianity is educative, heartily 
in touch with all true science, and alive to the mental 

26 



advancement of the people. It must become a real 
college, a worthy competitor of the higher institutions 
of the state. If we turn from them because of their 
omissions on the religious side, we cannot afford to let 
our colleges be constitutionally defective on the scien- 
tific side. There are not two antagonistic sides ; both 
belong to one sound body of truth, as the two hemis- 
pheres of the human brain are one complete organism; 
and a paralysis of either is an alarming sign of infirmi- 
ty in the university of thought-agencies. Princeton is 
none the less scientific because of her Christianity, nor 
the less Christian on account of her broad curricula. 

More specifically : The Christian college is needed Why 
for training young people to become ministers of the needed ? 
gospel ; pastors in the great West, which repeats "the 
cry of Macedon;" missionaries wherever called; 
teachers in schools of every grade ; officers and work- 
ers in churches ; honorable men in business and poli- 
tics ; helpful women in social affairs ; and in every way 
"lights in the world, holding forth the Word of life." 

From the foothills of the Rockies comes this plea : 
"We need strong characters and strong faith, coupled 
with intelligence and refinement, just as much in our 
lay people as in our ministers. The Christian college 
develops them." All young men and young women 
whom a college can train in the noblest graces and 
send into these western communities, find places to 
nurture "trees of righteousness," where none have 
thrived before. There the better elements of plastic 
society, unconscious of its possibilities, are waiting for 
these helpers. Through them the missionary may 
have larger returns for spiritual effort. The preacher 

27 



fills the pulpit ; they lead society to fill the pews. They 
help him to change the social attractions from the 
lower amusements to the higher modes of culture. 
Elevating literature and renewing purpose are brought 
into the labors and leisure of a people. Thus, as an 
educator on the central plains tells us, "The Christian 
college is almost entirely a missionary enterprise ; " 
and if the church allows it to give way to secular insti- 
tutions, "I shall greatly fear for the future of Chris- 
tianity in America." 

Unity Here is an appeal to the broadest patriotism. Our 

needed, whole country needs essential unity: one source of 
law, one standard of social morality, one personal 
liberty, one national life. Differences may lead to 
serious divisions. Dr. Wm. C. Roberts has pointed 
out some striking facts, showing that most of the older 
states had their laws based on Christian principles. 
The morality of the New Testament was the Eastern 
law of right. It was part of the education. "The 
early colonists believed in teaching the people to per- 
form their duties as Christians as well as citizens.* The 
schools and colleges which they planted became the 
great conservators of the principles of the Reforma- 
tion. It is worthy of note that the religious element 
predominated in all the early settlements, from the 
shores of the Atlantic to the banks of the Mississippi." 
Liberty, religion and education were the three strands 
of the social cable. Habits came to be so fixed that 
the people were largely conservative and unwilling to 
adopt sudden changes in customs and laws. There 
have been differences in the newer West, especially 
where the ordinance of 1787 was not applicable. The 

28 



Bible was less the foundation of legal and social life. 
Christian ethics are not so evident in the laws. A large 
number of men have no connection with Christianity. 

Those who keep tally of the evil doers find that Ratios of 
Iowa and North Dakota have 531 criminals to every Cnmlnals - 
1,000,000 people; the smallest ratio in the United 
States. South Dakota is just ten worse. Nebraska and 
Minnesota do not reach over 800 to the 1,000,000. But 
when we go into the mountains we count the highest 
figures, running from 1,219 criminals to the 1,000,000 
in Wyoming, to 2,188 in Colorado, 2,813 in California, 
over 3,220 in Nevada and Montana, and 4,193 in 
Arizona. Or thus : the average in the North Central 
States is 888 to the 1,000,000; in the Western States 
2,221. 

The colleges in the great West need Christianity and 
all the means of its intellectual and spiritual power. 
And the West needs the best Christian colleges when 
the Attorney-General of a state decides that the public 
schools may not be opened with prayer if any person Pra y er 
residing in the district shall object, because the consti- 
tution is thus violated. Why not so judge of all the 
state schools? He says: "It is the purpose of the law 
of this state to permit no intrusion into our public 
schools of any religious teachings whatsoever. They 
are to be kept purely secular in character and as 
places where the children of parents of every shade of 
religious belief may assemble for purposes of instruc- 
tion in authorized subjects and incidental moral im- 
provement." 

Admit that "The new states have about as many 
colleges as they will have fifty years hence, when the 

29 



population will be many times what it is now," must 
our colleges wait fifty years for means to grow with 
the growth of the states and the state institutions ? If 
the child be forced to postpone its growth until the 
years of manhood, the dwarf will soon rest in a short 
grave. The demand for these children of Synods is 
too imperative to permit any stunting refusal of sus- 
tenance. The need for them carries with it the needs 
of them. Their real needs — what are they ? The most 
pressing are not for gymnasiums, nor boat-houses, nor 
decorations, nor very rare books, but for things nec- 
essary to their growth — if not to their existence— and 
for the maintenance of faculties that will keep them 
abreast of their strongest competitors. He felt the 
actual need who wrote thus, of his college, "It seems 
strange that our Presbyterian people are so slow to 
place the institution on a proper foundation." Was 
he alone — the only man of his kind ? Are we thinking 
what a college may do ? 

We are told that a missionary college on the banks 
of the Bosphorus, sending home Bulgarian students 
as heralds of truth and liberty, eventually changed the 
map of Europe and the destinies of their own nation. 
There was college power. It may here work as great 
wonders, not by political revolution, but by helping to 
interpret and preserve the liberties already possessed. 
Lord Beaconsfield wrote, as if with a Hebrew pen, 
"America has prospered because she remembered 
Zion." The Christian college stands for Power that 
came from the ever memorable "City of God." 



30 



The College Board. 

The Presbyterian Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies. 

President — Rev. Herrick Johnson, D. D. LL. D. 
Secretary— Rev. E. C. Ray, D. D., 30 Montauk Block, Chicago. 
Treasurer— Mr. C. M. Charnley, Box 294, Chicago. 

Office 30 Montauk Block, 115 Monroe Street, 
Chicago, 111. 

Organized by the General Assembly in 1883 to aid in founding and 
fostering western Presbyterian colleges and academies* 

Why should not every Presbyterian 

church make annual offerings 

for this work ? 



Givers through the College 
Board never get their money back ; 
they get no bankable interest: But 
their gifts bring signal sequents — 
both immediate and enduring — 
for Christ, Church and Country. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 501 298 5 •• 



